How many times can a BGA component be replaced at the same location on the same PCB and retain reliability?

Mark McMeen of STI Electronics suggests that the answer may be as little as two times!

…most companies err on the cautious side and only replace twice at the same location after the initial build which is normally 2 thermal cycles for top and bottomside reflow thermal cycles.

I think a broader question needs to be asked, why are you replacing BGAs in the first place? In my experience, often the answer is due to poor reflow profiling. Often there is nothing wrong with the oven, PCB or BGA. Why is it so hard to properly profile a BGA? I believe the reason is most folks don’t have the option of placing a thermocouple underneath the BGA nor sacrificing a board in drilling a hole on the underside for TC placement. In the old days, you could get away with snaking a TCs under the BGA, but with micro BGAs this is just not an option. So what do people do? They stick a TC on top of the BGA or along side it. Many do nothing at all which is kind of scary and wind up asking question like how many times can I redo my board.

To go to show how hot of topic this is, I held a series of webinars a couple months ago with a turnout in the hundreds. I shared some ideas, here is an abridged 8 min version of the session for those of you that missed it. Part of the answer is proper TC attachment which by the way is currently under study at RIT to see the most reliable method as well as determine if there is a non destructive methods that is both valid and repeatable.

The other part of the equation is profiling your PCB not only for your BGAs but also those components that cannot tolerate as high of temperatures. I’ve seen plenty of manufacturers so focused on a $500 BGA, ignoring pretty much what else is going on with other components on their PCB. Certainly having the ability to define separate specifications, for example a peak temp for a DIP while addressing the special needs of your BGAs will lead to fewer BGAs having to be reworked in the first place.